I had a difficult time reading this book. The characters were not consistent. The female protagonists were strong women who achieved much for the time they lived in and yet they were so insecure— it did not make sense. I wanted to like this book, but I struggled with getting through it. There were also some issues that were left unresolved.

Great book. Kept me guessing until the end. I love Russian history and was entranced throughout the entire book. Would definitely read anything by this author again. Loved the historical part of the story in the flashbacks.

This story is told from the viewpoints of a mother and daughter during 2 different timelines; the mother at the time of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia and the daughter, post world war II in Manhattan. I followed every minute of the mother's story and wanted more. The daughter's story didn't capture me as much as her mother's and drags the story down a bit. I did appreciate her journey to being an architect in a man's world, but much of it was too cliched. The tale of the tiara is fascinating and I wish there weren't so many holes in the story which made it hard to follow and a bit implausible. I did like the mentions of Oak Ridge construction during World War II and appreciate those parts of the novel the author clearly researched and included. A quick read but a few parts might leave you scratching your head.

The tiara did exist and was believed to be the last one created for a Romanov Grand Duchess which disappeared during World War I.

This book is written in dual timelines.

Sofiya renounced all things Russian and told her daughter, Isobelle, very little about her past. Sofiya's story uncovers the mystery of her past, which Isobelle has been searching for.

Isobelle moves into her mother's New York apartment and decides to modernize it. She begins by removing the bedroom wallpaper. Early on she uncovers a hidden area in the wall where a jewel-less tiara is stored, along with a receipt from a NYC jeweler who purchased the jewels. This begins the journey to find the jeweler or someone who might know about the jewels. The mystery of the tiara unfolds in Sofiya's story and by the end of the novel the two stories meet.

This story is beautifully written and you are taken right into the world of these two women and their stories. I appreciated the historical accuracy of the accounts given so we know and understand the horrors of war and what people did to survive and try to 'forget'.

This story reveals the power of love and family.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first book I've read by M.J. Rose but it will not be the last. Set alternatively against the backdrops of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia and post WWII Manhattan in 1948, it tells the story of two women, mother and daughter, and the dramatic events that shaped their lives.

Sofiya Petrovitch is a childhood friend of the Grand Duchess Olga Romanov. When the royal family is forced to flee, Olga gives Sofiya a precious tiara. While working in a hospital in St. Petersburg, Sofiya falls in love with a wounded soldier who suffers from amnesia. With Sofiya's help, he discovers he is a master jeweler with the esteemed Faberge company and the two embark on a passionate affair.

In 1948 Manhattan, Isobelle Moon knows nothing about her father and very little about her mother's life in Russia, only that she fled her homeland with 6-month old Isobelle, changed her name and never looked back. When her mother dies, Isobelle discovers a tiara hidden in the wall of her mother's bedroom. Stripped of its jewels, the tiara and how it came to be in her mother's possession, is a mystery. Isobelle brings the tiara to a local jeweler, Jules Reed, who agrees to help her discover the origin of the tiara and how her mother came to have it. The only problem is that Jules is a member of the Midas Society, a covert international organization whose mission is to return stolen artwork to the original owner--and he believes the tiara is stolen.

To say anything more would be giving away spoilers, so I will just say that this was a fascinating book and M.J. Rose does a fabulous job of moving seamlessly between the two generational viewpoints. My only criticism is that there are a few places where she dumps large chunks of historic detail into the story by inserting it into a character's dialogue. This felt a bit clunky and pulled me out of the story for that moment. Otherwise, the book is beautifully written and the characters were genuine and interesting and I found myself pulled into the two different storylines and rooting for a happy ending. I am looking forward to reading more from this author!

Sophia Moon is killed while trying to cross a busy road in New York. She leaves behind her daughter, Isobel. Isobel realizes how little she knows about her mother's life before she moved to New York from Russia and after finding something that her mother had hidden, she tries to reconstruct her mother's life.

Told from two time periods, the story beautifully unfolds. It starts out a little slow but it grabs your attention and doesn't let go.

Thanks to Netgalley for allowing me to read and review this wonderful book.

A wonderful entertaining read from the very first page through to the last! M.J. Rose introduces you to characters that are immediately likable and intriguing and weaves them into a fascinating mystery that follows the journey of the last tiara made for the royal Romanov family in Russia. When a grieving young architect, Isobelle, discovers the frame of a tiara hidden in her mother's belongings, the mystery begins to discover how it came to be in post-WWII New York, why her mother had hidden it, and what happened to the jewels that once made it a priceless treasure.

The story unravels with the poignant take of Sophia, a young nurse and friend of the Grand Duchess Olga Nilolaevna, as Russia falls into revolutionary chaos. As Sophia, a volunteer nurse befriends a young jeweler who has lost his memory from a head wound, the fascinating tale of the tiara begins and will keep you captivated. The story is peppered with interesting details of life in Russia at the fall of the Tzarist regime, and life in the male-dominated world of architects in post-WWII New York as daughter Isobelle tries to secure her place at a prominent architectural firm while trying to solve the mystery of The Last Tiara.

I was lucky enough to be able to read an advanced copy of this book, so thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this opportunity.
Isobelle's is a young female architect in Manhattan in the aftermath of WW II. Her other passed away a year ago in a tragic accident. When she decides to renovate her apartment , she discovers a hidden treasure that leads her on a journey to find out more about her mothers life back in Russia during the Romanov reign, and hopefully more about her father.
The story is told from alternating point of view: Isobelle's and her mother, and in two different time periods.
If you do a lot of reading of historical fiction , I think you would find the way this is written very familiar. It seems a lot of authors are doing it this way lately: find something old or mysterious, try to find out about, tell the story in alternating points of view, going back and forth in time. So for me, this was just another one of those types of stories not much different than many others. However it was an easy read, it came right the points of the story, and the story was interesting, especially since it dealt more with WW I vs the many that deal with WW II. And i did find it interesting to finally get the meaning of the title at the end. So a story worth the read in my opinion.

The Last Tiara a beautifully written story about love, loss, and new beginnings. Author M. J. Rose’s prose envelopes readers immediately as the uncertainties of life during the Bolshevik revolution are revealed. It keeps readers engaged once the tiara is discovered and the search for its origins begins. The characters, dialogue and emotions ring true. I loved everything about this book. I voluntarily reviewed an advance copy of this book from NetGalley. Most highly recommend.

'The Last Tiara' is a heart breaking story about long lost love, aristocratic jewels, and frozen memories. It follows the story of Isobelle Moon, the daughter of an immigrant from Russia with a mysterious past and an even more mysterious tiara that sends Isobelle on an intricately woven journey to uncovering the secrets of her Mother’s past. From the royal palaces of Russia to the South of France, 'The Last Tiara' is a bejeweling story about survival and hardship amidst the backdrop of revolution and fine art.

The hopeless romance between the characters added a multi-faceted aspect to the mystery of the tiara. The pacing of the story was perfect and kept me on the edge of my seat, and the craftsmanship of jewelry making served as a precious magic that bound the lives of characters together across continents and time. I enjoyed the dual storylines and thought the author did a great job at bringing both together at the end. The inclusion of the secret society was a clever idea and I hope to see it again in a future book.

This was the first M.J. Rose book I’ve read and I will definitely be reading more of her work because the magic and mystery that she wove into the story was heartwarming and intriguing.

The Last Tiara is Historical Fiction at its finest. Set during The Great war in Russia in 1915 and also New York City in the late 1940's this duel timeline/POV story starts off running.

I was immediately drawn to this story due to the strong female protagonist, Isobelle. A female architect in a mostly male-dominated profession gave me high hopes.

The story is told from two POVs. Isobelle, the daughter of Sophia realizes that her mother has been hiding her past from her all these years. After her mothers death, Isobelle discovers a tiara among her belongings and her desire to find out the meaning behind it and all of her mothers secrets lead her on a treasure hunt of love and self discovery.

This story was very easy to get lost in solidified my love for historical fiction. I will definitely be reading more from this author in the future!

A very good mystery revolving around a tiara belonging to the daughter of the Romanov Family. When Olga, one of the daughter’s of the Tzar gives her Faberge Tiara to her friend Sofya it starts a chain of events that reverberate through the revolution to 1948 when Sofiya’s daughter finds it after her mother’s death. Isabelle, Sofiya’s daughter knows nothing about her father and her mother’s history in Russia, since her mother has never talked about either. When Isabelle finds the tiara she sets out to learn about it’s history and hopefully learn about her mother and father. She meets a young jeweler who has ties to the Midas Society whose mission is returning objects of art to their rightful owners. Was the tiara really her mother’s or was it stolen? The story is told from Sofiya’s and Isabelle’s point of view with two accompanying love stories. The characters are all very well written and interesting. This can be considered a historical novel with the history surrounding Sofiya’s and the Russian revolution. Thanks to the author and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this novel for my honest opinion.

Thanks to NetGalley and Blue Box Press for an Advanced Reader Copy of this book.

The Last Tiara is a dual-timeline Historical Fiction novel set in WWI-era Russia and late-1940’s New York. There are Romanovs, Faberge eggs, and everything else you’d expect from a story set in those times. What really made me want to read this book, however, was the unusual protagonist: a female architect in the 1940’s. Surely such a strong woman, one with the courage and ambition to succeed in a male-dominated field at that time would make an amazing main character to serve as the center of a novel!

But it didn’t work out that way. Isobelle is not a strong woman with courage and ambition; she’s full of self-doubt, completely lacking in trust, and people must constantly reaffirm their loyalty to and affection for her. Once she finds the tiara and takes it to the jeweler, the book is mostly a series of things happening to her, usually set in motion by the men she comes into contact with. The ineffectual back-story of Isobelle’s insecurity is alluded to throughout the book, but isn’t fully explained until the story is nearly over, making her neediness grating rather than sympathetic. As a result, the story lacks a solid core to revolve around and an opportunity to hear a unique female voice in literature was wasted in favor of yet another woman who settled for being grateful to be in the room.

Sofiya’s story and the story as a whole are much more interesting, but get bogged down by being overly-detailed, lacking clarity, and being full of duplications, inconsistencies, and contradictions. In one section, the author wrote, “They said that the average citizen in St. Petersburg had lost fifteen percent of his or her body weight because of the food shortages”. Later the same statistic is used, but changed to ten percent. In another instance, Sofiya is crying and, a few weeks later, is said to be crying “for the first time” since an event that happened several months earlier. These are signs of poor editing.

I have to rate The Last Tiara 3 stars. It could’ve, should've been a higher rating. I wanted to give it a higher rating. But it needed to go through at least another draft by the author and a much heavier editing process to catch the mistakes, cut out some of the excess material, and streamline the too-busy plot. This book is highly readable, but also frustrating.

Heads up for a couple of open-door love scenes (easy to skip). I can’t think of any major trigger warnings, but keep in mind that Russia during the revolution is never an easy read.

For those of us who are inveterate readers of historical fiction THE LAST TIERA has it all:
. . . An intriguing puzzle;
. . . An over-achieving heroine;
. . . A few mysterious men; and
. . . A peek into Fabrege’s workshop.

I was engaged in this book from beginning to end, and as a reader who likes happy endings, found this compelling story of Tsaritsyn Russia just plain wonderful.

NetGalley provided me a complimentary copy of this novel in exchange for a candid review.

I have become a fan of historical fiction and this book confirmed my love of this genre. Set in New York City in 1948 (my birth year) and 1915 in St. Petersburg (a city we visited last year), this book held my interest for those reasons too. Add a young woman whose mother just died and who knows nothing of her mother's life prior to coming to the US, including very much about her father who she has been told is dead, and you have the makings of a good mystery. Isobelle begins to remodel the apartment she shared with her mother and comes across some items hidden in the walls that start her on a search for answers about her mother's past. I would definitely recommend this book.

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4 stars

This book is written with two times in mind: 1948 New York and during the Great War in Russia 1915 - at the home of the Tsar and his family.

This is a wonderful historical novel about a woman who makes a startling discovery when remodeling her apartment. Her recently deceased mother has left a mysterious tiara in a vault created in a bedroom wall. Her mother refused to talk about the past and daughter Isobelle Moon is determined to get to the bottom of the story about the tiara. She can't stand not knowing for her curiosity is boundless.

The fabulous house of Faberge plays a big part in the story, as does Isobelle's mother Sophia's friendship with the eldest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra. Olga gifts the tiara to Sophia.

It is also the love story of Sophia and Carpathian and the hardships they had to endure during the Russian Revolution, including death, imprisonment and rampant fear. Sophia ia an art restorer and Carpathian is a fine craftsman at the Faberge facility.

Daughter Isobelle also finds love interestingly enough with another jeweler.

This is a wonderfully well written and plotted novel. The transitions are flawless and the characters are very engaging and real to life. The reader is transported to both Russia and New York to witness first hand the action in the story.

I want to thank NetGalley and Blue Box Press/AuthorBuzz for forwarding to me a copy of this most attractive book for me to read, enjoy and review.

The Last Tiara by M J Rose is an absolute treasure! The story revolves around the mystery of a tiara found by Isobelle in WW2. She finds it hidden within her mother Sophia’s bedroom shortly after Sophia’s death. The piece of jewelry and her mother’s whole life are a mystery to Isobelle. She knows that her mother fled Russia during WW1, but apart from that, she knows little else about her mother’s life. Sophia refused to speak of her past or Isobelle’s father. The story alternates time periods, each chapter, in one you a peeking into the life of Sophia during WW1, in the next you are in WW2 with Isobelle as she attempts to unravel the mystery of the tiara. From these two perspectives, the author weaves together the mystery and romance of both women. The characters come alive and demand your attention. The settings bloom in your mind’s eye. It’s a fabulous tale!

One of MJ Rose’s best!! I could not put this book down, such a fantastic story and so bittersweet as well.

A well written historical fiction/mystery novel that will lead the reader down many paths. The characters are well drawn and provide a basis for belief.

This was a first book for me from this author. I really enjoyed. You could tell the author did her research. It was extremely well written and very rich and descriptive in historical detail. It flips back and forth in time which I loved and keeps the reader interested until the very end. All in all an very good historical fiction novel, highly recommend!!!